Possessed to Knit

John's Cotton Habitat Hat Completed

Here is my completed cotton Habitat hat for John.  I had trouble selecting a pattern and a needle size.  I was almost to the crown decreases on Windschief and realized it was going to be too small.  Habitat's cables will cooridinate nicely with Dryad's cables.  I used my size 8 Addi Click Lace needles for the ribbing and changed to the size 9 tips for the body of the hat.  I worked Norwegian purls between the cables to even out the purl stitches.  I'm concerned about the pilling I noticed along the edge of the ribbing, but with cotton being such a short fiber, pilling is to be expected.  At least John will have a hat to go with his scarf and all before the end of winter.

John's Cotton Dryad Scarf Completed

Here is my completed Dryad scarf for my good friend, John, completed just before the end of winter.  I used four skeins of Knit Picks Simply Organic Cotton Worsted in the Toffee colorway and size 9 Addi Fixed Addi Lace needles.  This yarn is made from cotton that is naturally grown in color and it is machine washable on gentle and dryable on low.  The scarf is about 9.5 inches wide and 68" inches long and the resulting fabric is very soft. 

I didn't block it because I thought it looked fine and I wanted to send it off as soon as I could.  It was fun to knit and I am working on a matching hat, which was not cooperating so well.  I mailed the scarf today and hopefully John will be able to wear it for a little while this winter.

Handspun Fair Isle Hat Completed

I have been having a lot of fun spindle spinning my Cormo/Possum roving.  I even plied it on my All-Day Lollipop spindle.  I used about two ounces of it with some handspun alpaca two-ply yarn to make this Fair Isle hat.  I casted on 84 sts and worked k1, p1 ribbing on size 7 Addi Turbo needles.  I changed needles to size 8 and worked two rounds plain before starting the Fair Isle pattern which I found in 1000 Great Knitting Motifs by Luise Roberts.  I minimized the jog which goes through the middle motif diagonally.  I worked two plain rounds after the motif and then decreased six 14 stitch sections every other round until the last few rows where I decreased every round.  This hat is about 19" around and it was a joy to knit with my spindle spun yarn. 

Wollmeise Schwammerl Socks Completed

Here is Al modeling his new Wollmeise Twin (80% wool/20 % nylon) socks in the Schwammerl (mushroom) colorway.  I used my 2.5 mm (size 1) Addi Turbo 40" circular needles and 72 sts for all but the short-row heels and toes where I used my 2.00 mm (size 0) Addi Turbo 40" circular needles.  The yarn colors puddled a lot, but Al doesn't mind as he likes the camouflage colors.  I have had issues with my 100% merino Wollmeise socks getting holes in the heels and toes and I am hopeful these Wollmeise Twin socks will last longer. 

Stepping Stone Socks Completed

Here are the Stepping Stone socks I knitted for my nephew, Joshua, who turns 7 years old on Sunday.  The yarn is Knit Picks Stroll Sport in the Hollyberry colorway, leftover from his mother's Twinflower and the same yarn (but different dye lot) from his Spiderman mittens and hat.  I thought I was using my 2.75 mm Darn Pretty dpns, but it turns out that they were size 2.50 mm dpns.   For the heels and toes, I used 2.25 mm dpns.  I always find myself inspired to knit Joshua something for his winter birthday as he really appreciates my knitting, even at his young age. 

Twinflower Completed

Here is my completed Twinflower for my sister, Teresa, as a slighlty late birthday present.  I selected Knit Picks Stroll Sport in the Holly Berry colorway because Teresa prefers machine washable yarns.  I used my size 5 (3.75 mm) Addi Lace fixed needles for the body and my size 4 (3.50 mm) Addi Lace fixed needles for the hem and the cabled neckband.  The set-in sleeves were a bit of a challenge, and Amy Herzog has a helpful blog about setting in sleeves here.  I also made a sample of a sewn hem and a knitted together hem, and the sewn hem looked much nicer.  I found some heel reinforcing yarn in a similar color at Fibre Space for sewing the hems down.   I will mail it tomorrow and I certainly look forward to hearing how it fits.

New Year's Day

I did a good bit of spindle spinning in 2011.  The silk singles are on the top and the cashmere singles are on the bottom.  I wound the cashmere into a center pull ball and plied one strand of silk with two strands of cashmere using my Gem.  Now I need to find just the right project for this precious yarn.

In 2011, I knitted 13 pairs of socks and I have three single socks awaiting a second sock at the moment.  I completed 3 scarves, one shawl, 2 pairs of mittens, 5 hats (one handspun) and one handspun French Press cozy.  I also have front, back, and sleeves knitted and blocked for a Twinflower pullover for my sister, Teresa.  My nephews have recently discovered Harry Potter and each would like a Harry Potter scarf to wear for the rest of the winter so I will start on their scarves next. 

I hope to knit with more of my handspun yarn in 2012 and to experiment with my inspiring 250 Japanese Knitting Patterns book.  Happy New Year!

 

Fibery Birthday Presents

I received this wonderful box of birthday gifts (for my birthday tomorrow) from my Ravelry sister, Laura.  I have been frustrated with my yak spindle project, it is not the fun spinning I thought it would be and I was thinking of what would be fun to spin and then I received these delightful rovings and DVD box set today.

Starting with the top left, we have a batt of cormo & possum carded together.  There is also another batt, I could not fit everything in the photo.  Laura had a fellow Raveler with a drum carder combine these lovely fibers into two batts for me.  Next, the purple batt is a merino/possum blend, incredibly soft and carded into a thin strip that is ready to spin, with no predrafting.  On the bottom right, we have New Zealand Halfbred combed top at 27 microns, similar to merino, but with a 4" staple length, it will yield a more durable lace yarn.  There is actually half a pound of the combed top, not all of it is in the photo.  Qiviut, the down fiber from Musk Ox, is the amazingly soft ball of roving in the lower left corner.   I will spin this into a 2-ply lace yarn and knit a Ptarmigan cowl.  "The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency" DVDs will be perfect to watch while I spin my beautiful rovings.  Laura wanted to send me fibers I had never spun before and she certainly has.

Thank you to Laura for all of my fabulous birthday gifts!

Yak Spindling

I recently started spindle spinning a 4 ounce bag of yak roving as I wanted a small project to pick up when I had a few minutes to spin.  The staple length is about an inch and it is not the highest quality yak.  There appears to be some kemp and a few guard hairs, but it still feels soft over all. 

I selected my 0.5 ounce spindles (center and right) to spin such short stapled fibers.  I want to spin a yarn strong enough to stay together yet not overspun into a wire.  I ended up getting a lot of back spin with these light spindles, so I tried my 0.9 ounce spindle (left).  Now I get no back spin, though I am not sure how much fiber I will get on the spindle before the yarn starts breaking. 

I plan to spindle ply this yarn so I can keep a close eye on the feel of the resulting 2-ply yarn and maintain its softness.  This yak has no bounce to it and would make a nice cowl or scarf.

December Baby Yarn

Here is my Dragonfly Fibers merino/silk yarn, a lovely ebony and maple spindle from Spindlewood Co, and a beautiful spindle bag handmade by Laura M. 

I spindle spun (and wheel plied) the entire 4 ounces of merino/silk roving using all of my one ounce spindles.  I spun the singles very fine and rotated through my spindles as I made the 4-ply yarn.  This gave me a lot of practice with joining yarns as I learned from The Gentle Art of Plying DVD by Judith MacKenzie.  The yarn is about 350 yards and 18 to 22 wpi. 

I love Spindlewood's square spindle design plus Steve and Connie always provide excellent customer service with their wonderful spindles.  Laura's delightful spindle bag helped to make my spindling more portable.  It took a while for me to spin such fine singles.

This yarn would make an interesting pair of gloves and a nice matching cowl or a great pair of socks.  I will be knitting with it one of these days once I complete my holiday knitting.